Exeter Airport - Sat 04/07 Resumption Of Commercial Flights (COVID-19)

[whole diary]

[southwest]

The cynic may think that the investors chose to let Flybe fail, then pick up the pieces that were worth something, but not the pensions or debts. It is potentially good news for the people of Devon (me), and I await developments with keen anticipation.

Cyprus tried to rescue Flybe, they even attempted to get a new Aeronautical operational control, (AOC^▸ (Aeronautical operational control, )) before the airline ran out of cash, but the situation changed far too quickly for anything to be done.  (This is a simplified version of the  Ernst & Young Inc (EY) public document released in May)

The reason Flybe went bust is credit card holders kept back ?60 million in ticket sales, alongside Stobart refusing to put anymore money into the company.


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying acronyms and abbreviation

[Bob_Blakey]

Not surprisingly all public commercial flights to/from Exeter are currently suspended with the exception of the thrice weekly (M,Th,Su) Aer Lingus Belfast service. Loganair, Blue Islands & TUI^▸ (Touristik Union International. Also known as TUI Group - ) managed a few services over the Christmas & New Year period but even those companies cancelled several holiday flights they were intending to run.

[Bob_Blakey]

The Aer Lingus Belfast City<>Exeter service has now been reduced to weekly, Fridays Only (FO).

The only other commercial activities at Exeter Airport are the Monday>Friday (evenings) West Atlantic / Royal Mail flights to East Midlands and Tuesday>Saturday (early mornings) returns.

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying acronym

[grahame]

Not necessarily the right thread - but a quick look at airport web sites shows nothing in the next 24 hours from Newquay, Bristol or Cardiff airports either.   Heathrow departures looks like an impressive list until you realise that the same flight is listed 7 to 10 times under different airline codes with code sharing.   Tiny minority of normal flights operating - guess around 10%. And interesting to read in news of long waits (up to 4 hours) at immigration. 

[Thatcham Crossing]

Tiny minority of normal flights operating - guess around 10%.

True enough, for passenger flights, but a lot more freight flights than normal arriving and departing Heathrow at the moment.

Part of the reason for this is that the reduced number of passenger flights means that a lot of belly freight that is normally carried on these flights needs to fly another way.

Pure freighters are partly filling this gap, as are passenger aircraft flying with freight only. An example of this, among many, is Virgin Atlantic who are operating 787's to Evenes in northern Norway, returning each time with up to 50 tonnes of fresh fish in the belly holds, as described here https://blog.virginatlantic.com/flying-fresh-fish-from-the-fjords/

[Bob_Blakey]

As of today the Aer Lingus (Stobart Air) Belfast>Exeter>Belfast service increases to 3 days (M,F,Su) a week. According to the Exeter Airport website other operators will resume services from 12th April.

[TaplowGreen]

As of today the Aer Lingus (Stobart Air) Belfast>Exeter>Belfast service increases to 3 days (M,F,Su) a week. According to the Exeter Airport website other operators will resume services from 12th April.

Good news but in common with all airports Exeter will most likely have another pretty barren summer in terms of holiday flights.

[Bob_Blakey]

As they previously indicated would be the case Isles of Scilly Skybus has restarted operations from both Exeter (3 return trips / day) & Lands End (5) - but NOT Newquay at the moment. Their booking system shows most flights either full or nearly so for at least the next couple of weeks.

The next programmed resumption is the Blue Islands Jersey>Exeter>Jersey service on 27th April. 2 flights / week (Tu,Th).

[Thatcham Crossing]

The Passenger Terminal at Newquay is currently closed and there are no scheduled passenger flights scheduled until the end of the month. Apparently Boris was there last week to survey G7 preparations, however, and was flown in and out by the RAF^▸ (Royal Air Force).

Their website says that Skybus will resume to the IoS on 17th May.

[TonyK]

The Passenger Terminal at Newquay is currently closed and there are no scheduled passenger flights scheduled until the end of the month. Apparently Boris was there last week to survey G7 preparations, however, and was flown in and out by the RAF^▸ (Royal Air Force).

Their website says that Skybus will resume to the IoS on 17th May.

I think a lot of that £7 million is being spent on it before it reopens.

[johnneyw]

Meanwhile, in France, lawmakers are looking to ban all internal flights where a rail alternative exist and takes no more than two and a half hours.

From the Beeb website:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56716708

[TonyK]

Meanwhile, in France, lawmakers are looking to ban all internal flights where a rail alternative exist and takes no more than two and a half hours.

From the Beeb website:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56716708

Such a law here would preclude Exeter to Truro, but Redruth would be fine. I think the French could have a good idea with this if it spurs investment in rail, and isn't used to raise fares. And if it applies to the politicians too. I wonder how well it fits with the European ideals of free movement of people and trade, though.

[eightonedee]

I think the French could have a good idea with this if it spurs investment in rail,

The problem is that the French have already invested in rail to produce a comprehensive high speed system, whereas we just have a quick dash to the Channel Tunnel and a slow moving protest site moving towards Birmingham.  For all its problems the French have us totally licked in this regard. If only we had "HSs^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) High Speed Services))" to Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Hull.........

[MVR S&T]

And the not fit for purpose Cross country trains...

[Lee]

I think the French could have a good idea with this if it spurs investment in rail,

The problem is that the French have already invested in rail to produce a comprehensive high speed system, whereas we just have a quick dash to the Channel Tunnel and a slow moving protest site moving towards Birmingham.  For all its problems the French have us totally licked in this regard. If only we had "HSs^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) High Speed Services))" to Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Hull.........

Oh believe me, they have you licked in several other transport related ways as well - That's why I moved here 

The new DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) Bus Strategy is at least a genuine step in the right direction though.